1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a quilt design planner in the form of relatively thin but substantially rigid panels or strips having a grid marking on an upwardly exposed surface thereof positioned in overlying relation to the sashings and/or borders on the quilt top to enable a quilter to more effectively plan the design to be formed on the sashings and/or borders prior to making any marks on the quilt top. The panels or strips having the grid marking thereon have an easily erasable surface on which designs may be formed by using templates or stencils and a marking pencil or other marker to form, lay out and adjust the design on the panels or strips with the planned design overlying the sashing and/or borders around each block of the quilt top.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Before quilting a quilt top, the design to be formed on the sashings or borders is conventionally marked directly onto the sashings or borders by the use of a marker and stencils, templates or by freehand. Many times quilters, when marking designs on the sashings or borders by the use of markers, the quilter discovers that the desired design does not fit properly on the border or may not work out properly at the corners of the quilt top block design which necessitates additional design markings being placed on the quilt top.
Efforts have been made to provide devices to assist quilters in quilting the quilt top and various devices have been provided with erasable surfaces. The following U.S. Pat. Nos. are relevant to this field of endeavor.
______________________________________ 1,087,207 5,191,716 2,511,953 5,207,581 4,082,875 Re. 25,031 4,940,628 Des. 311,873 5,110,295 ______________________________________
The above listed patents do not disclose a planner for use by quilters in the form of a panel or plurality of panels having a grid layout inscribed on the upper surface which is erasable to enable the strips to be placed in concentric relation to a block design on the quilt top in overlying relation to the sashings and borders to enable a design to be marked directly on the planner and erased, if necessary, in order to adjust the physical characteristics of the design to the physical characteristics of the quilt top sashings or borders. The planned design is then transferred from the planner to the quilt top by the use of the same stencil and a marking pencil or other marker by marking the design directly onto the quilt border or sashing thereby eliminating multiple markings on the quilt top which have often been required when using previously known quilting aids when trying to adjust the design to the dimensions of the sashings and/or borders.